Scottish Executive

Council Tax

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the outstanding council tax bills from 1997-98 has been written off by local authorities.

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the outstanding council tax bills from 1998-99 has been written off by local authorities.

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the outstanding council tax bills from 1999-2000 has been written off by local authorities.

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the outstanding council tax bills from 2000-01 has been written off by local authorities.

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the outstanding council tax bills from 2001-02 has been written off by local authorities.

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the outstanding council tax bills from 2002-03 has been written off by local authorities.

Tavish Scott: This information is not held centrally.

E-Government

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it was represented at the European Information Society Conference in Aalborg, Denmark, in November 2003.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Scottish Executive was not represented in Aalborg. However, the Executive maintains a number of links with European counterparts, allowing us to share experience of delivering eGovernment services.

Maternity Services

Mr Stewart Maxwell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many live, single, full-term babies with a low birth weight of under 2.5 kg have been born in each NHS board area in each year since 1996-97, broken down by (a) social class and (b) home address postcode.

Malcolm Chisholm: The table shows the number of live, singleton, low birth weight (<2500g), full-term babies born in hospital NHS board of residence¹ and deprivation quintile² for years ended 31 March 1997 to 2002.

  


NHS Board of Residence

Depcat Group

Financial Year






1996-97

1997-98

1998-99

1999-2000

2000-01

2001-02P





















Argyll and Clyde

1 - most affluent

 12 

 10 

 13 

 10 

 6 

 7 





2

 11 

 9 

 10 

 8 

 13 

 8 





3

 18 

 16 

 15 

 16 

 9 

 19 





4

 34 

 28 

 24 

 30 

 26 

 31 





5 - most deprived

 33 

 33 

 33 

 36 

 36 

 30 





Total

 108 

 96 

 95 

 100 

 90 

 95 





















Ayrshire and Arran

1 - most affluent

 7 

 7 

 9 

 6 

 * 

 11 





2

 9 

 10 

 10 

 9 

 5 

 7 





3

 19 

 18 

 13 

 20 

 28 

 18 





4

 20 

 25 

 23 

 29 

 17 

 22 





5 - most deprived

 11 

 23 

 11 

 22 

 18 

 19 





Total

 66 

 83 

 66 

 86 

 68 

 77 





















Borders

1 - most affluent

 * 

 * 

 * 

 * 

 * 

 * 





2

 8 

 10 

 15 

 10 

 9 

 7 





3

 9 

 * 

 * 

 * 

 5 

 * 





4

 * 

 * 

 * 

 - 

 * 

 7 





5 - most deprived

 - 

 - 

 - 

 - 

 - 

 - 





Total

 21 

 17 

 21 

 16 

 20 

 23 





















Dumfries and Galloway

1 - most affluent

 6 

 * 

 * 

 * 

 * 

 * 





2

 9 

 10 

 15 

 6 

 10 

 5 





3

 * 

 6 

 * 

 * 

 * 

 * 





4

 * 

 * 

 10 

 6 

 9 

 13 





5 - most deprived

 - 

 - 

 - 

 - 

 - 

 - 





Total

 23 

 24 

 33 

 18 

 29 

 24 





















Fife

1 - most affluent

 * 

 7 

 11 

 10 

 * 

 * 





2

 14 

 * 

 * 

 13 

 13 

 13 





3

 31 

 34 

 36 

 27 

 31 

 23 





4

 20 

 18 

 27 

 26 

 17 

 18 





5 - most deprived

 * 

 * 

 * 

 * 

 * 

 * 





Total

 75 

 67 

 83 

 78 

 67 

 62 





















Forth Valley

1 - most affluent

 12 

 10 

 6 

 12 

 * 

 * 





2

 12 

 12 

 18 

 9 

 * 

 15 





3

 20 

 28 

 27 

 18 

 28 

 19 





4

 11 

 14 

 23 

 11 

 12 

 19 





5 - most deprived

 12 

 11 

 5 

 5 

 6 

 * 





Total

 68 

 76 

 79 

 55 

 57 

 60 





















Grampian

1 - most affluent

 46 

 38 

 26 

 43 

 41 

 43 





2

 29 

 23 

 18 

 17 

 15 

 13 





3

 25 

 21 

 21 

 26 

 18 

 24 





4

 16 

 17 

 18 

 17 

 9 

 19 





5 - most deprived

 5 

 11 

 6 

 6 

 5 

 * 





Total

 121 

 110 

 89 

 109 

 88 

 99 





















Greater Glasgow

1 - most affluent

 13 

 29 

 25 

 15 

 18 

 25 





2

 15 

 19 

 12 

 11 

 15 

 8 





3

 21 

 23 

 19 

 19 

 18 

 18 





4

 27 

 21 

 35 

 24 

 29 

 25 





5 - most deprived

 208 

 211 

 214 

 179 

 176 

 189 





Total

 284 

 304 

 305 

 248 

 256 

 265 





















Highland

1 - most affluent

 * 

 * 

 6 

 * 

 * 

 * 





2

 18 

 9 

 10 

 23 

 20 

 13 





3

 17 

 16 

 19 

 15 

 18 

 17 





4

 * 

 * 

 * 

 * 

 8 

 * 





5 - most deprived

 * 

 * 

 * 

 * 

 * 

 * 





Total

 41 

 32 

 38 

 44 

 48 

 35 





















Lanarkshire

1 - most affluent

 * 

 5 

 5 

 8 

 * 

 5 





2

 16 

 17 

 26 

 20 

 21 

 27 





3

 28 

 29 

 25 

 20 

 17 

 23 





4

 41 

 38 

 29 

 54 

 44 

 43 





5 - most deprived

 50 

 52 

 69 

 57 

 56 

 49 





Total

 138 

 141 

 154 

 159 

 138 

 147 





















Lothian

1 - most affluent

 37 

 16 

 31 

 25 

 24 

 23 





2

 29 

 36 

 22 

 31 

 18 

 24 





3

 36 

 33 

 43 

 39 

 29 

 29 





4

 78 

 72 

 58 

 76 

 77 

 71 





5 - most deprived

 14 

 24 

 19 

 14 

 28 

 15 





Total

 194 

 181 

 173 

 185 

 176 

 162 





















Tayside

1 - most affluent

 10 

 12 

 6 

 11 

 13 

 12 





2

 11 

 13 

 14 

 18 

 6 

 10 





3

 11 

 13 

 12 

 14 

 15 

 10 





4

 20 

 18 

 21 

 10 

 13 

 20 





5 - most deprived

 27 

 25 

 23 

 25 

 25 

 29 





Total

 79 

 81 

 76 

 78 

 72 

 81 




















Island3
 

1 - most affluent

 - 

 * 

 - 

 - 

 - 

 - 





2

 * 

 * 

 * 

 * 

 * 

 * 





3

 - 

 * 

 * 

 * 

 * 

 * 





4

 - 

 - 

 - 

 - 

 - 

 - 





5 - most deprived

 - 

 - 

 - 

 * 

 * 

 - 





Total

 * 

 7 

 6 

 7 

 7 

 7 



  Source: SMR02 (Ref: S2W-4178).

  PProvisional

  * In order to protect patient confidentiality values between 1 and 4 have been suppressed.

  In order to protect patient confidentiality home address postcodes cannot be supplied.

  Notes:

  1. Excludes residents out with Scotland and not known and home births.

  2. Deprivation categories are based on data collected in the 1981 and 1991 census. A number of measures (over-crowding, male unemployment, low social class, no car) are combined to give a composite score for postcode sectors. There are five categories ranging from 1 (least deprived) to 5 (most deprived).

  3. Comprises Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles.

Maternity Services

Mr Stewart Maxwell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many live, single, premature babies have been born in each NHS board area in each year since 1996-97, broken down by (a) social class and (b) home address postcode.

Malcolm Chisholm: The table shows the number of live, singleton, premature (<37 weeks gestation) babies born in hospital by NHS board of residence¹ and deprivation quintile² for years ended 31 March 1997 to 2002.

  


NHS Board

Depcat Group

Financial Year






1996-97

1997-98

1998-99

1999-2000

2000-01

2001-02P



Argyll and Clyde

1 - most affluent

 50 

 36 

 31 

 42 

 41 

 37 





2

 44 

 46 

 42 

 49 

 51 

 36 





3

 30 

 33 

 35 

 54 

 38 

 27 





4

 75 

 82 

 78 

 96 

 90 

 66 





5 - most deprived

 76 

 72 

 108 

 82 

 90 

 87 





Total

 275 

 269 

 294 

 323 

 310 

 253 



Ayrshire and Arran

1 - most affluent

 25 

 17 

 25 

 24 

 23 

 24 





2

 38 

 22 

 30 

 29 

 28 

 23 





3

 57 

 63 

 54 

 52 

 60 

 56 





4

 68 

 64 

 53 

 72 

 71 

 58 





5 - most deprived

 59 

 52 

 55 

 57 

 54 

 50 





Total

 247 

 218 

 217 

 234 

 236 

 211 



Borders

1 - most affluent

 12 

 14 

 13 

 12 

 12 

 11 





2

 29 

 25 

 15 

 27 

 29 

 23 





3

 14 

 14 

 10 

 9 

 12 

 5 





4

 8 

 5 

 11 

 5 

 5 

 5 





5 - most deprived

 - 

 - 

 - 

 - 

 - 

 - 





Total

 63 

 58 

 49 

 53 

 58 

 44 



Dumfries and Galloway

1 - most affluent

 13 

 11 

 18 

 10 

 16 

 14 





2

 28 

 32 

 20 

 39 

 30 

 36 





3

 8 

 12 

 14 

 14 

 15 

 11 





4

 21 

 22 

 14 

 23 

 22 

 22 





5 - most deprived

 - 

 - 

 - 

 - 

 - 

 - 





Total

 70 

 77 

 66 

 86 

 83 

 83 



Fife

1 - most affluent

 29 

 28 

 26 

 31 

 27 

 23 





2

 38 

 29 

 36 

 38 

 30 

 19 





3

 80 

 96 

 79 

 79 

 74 

 90 





4

 70 

 41 

 55 

 41 

 41 

 42 





5 - most deprived

 6 

 11 

 16 

 12 

 13 

 10 





Total

 223 

 205 

 212 

 201 

 185 

 184 



Forth Valley

1 - most affluent

 18 

 19 

 28 

 29 

 28 

 28 





2

 33 

 26 

 24 

 25 

 29 

 33 





3

 52 

 48 

 64 

 67 

 49 

 67 





4

 27 

 34 

 36 

 45 

 40 

 35 





5 - most deprived

 7 

 10 

 16 

 17 

 14 

 15 





Total

 137 

 137 

 168 

 183 

 160 

 178 



Grampian

1 - most affluent

 50 

 60 

 77 

 65 

 66 

 50 





2

 56 

 81 

 68 

 50 

 62 

 47 





3

 49 

 57 

 38 

 42 

 48 

 36 





4

 18 

 9 

 14 

 12 

 10 

 12 





5 - most deprived

 - 

 - 

 6 

 * 

 - 

 - 





Total

 173 

 207 

 203 

 169 

 186 

 145 



Greater Glasgow

1 - most affluent

 54 

 80 

 70 

 74 

 77 

 60 





2

 45 

 39 

 41 

 39 

 30 

 31 





3

 56 

 65 

 49 

 52 

 40 

 46 





4

 80 

 82 

 64 

 62 

 55 

 75 





5 - most deprived

 420 

 409 

 404 

 389 

 362 

 329 





Total

 655 

 675 

 628 

 616 

 564 

 541 



Highland

1 - most affluent

 8 

 10 

 18 

 17 

 19 

 9 





2

 39 

 43 

 52 

 49 

 44 

 37 





3

 47 

 41 

 40 

 43 

 44 

 34 





4

 17 

 13 

 18 

 9 

 18 

 11 





5 - most deprived

 - 

 - 

 * 

 * 

 - 

 * 





Total

 111 

 107 

 128 

 118 

 125 

 91 



Lanarkshire

1 - most affluent

 81 

 63 

 64 

 59 

 53 

 38 





2

 65 

 64 

 63 

 61 

 58 

 54 





3

 103 

 88 

 104 

 83 

 78 

 97 





4

 122 

 115 

 122 

 99 

 105 

 94 





5 - most deprived

 - 

 - 

 - 

 - 

 - 

 - 





Total

 371 

 330 

 353 

 302 

 294 

 283 



Lothian

1 - most affluent

 74 

 76 

 75 

 75 

 75 

 76 





2

 93 

 85 

 86 

 74 

 62 

 69 





3

 117 

 99 

 101 

 115 

 103 

 88 





4

 180 

 179 

 142 

 150 

 171 

 163 





5 - most deprived

 57 

 47 

 44 

 53 

 50 

 37 





Total

 521 

 486 

 448 

 467 

 461 

 433 



Tayside

1 - most affluent

 64 

 49 

 45 

 39 

 39 

 56 





2

 52 

 59 

 51 

 51 

 47 

 48 





3

 29 

 41 

 38 

 24 

 35 

 39 





4

 45 

 50 

 52 

 36 

 40 

 36 





5 - most deprived

 52 

 68 

 65 

 62 

 53 

 49 





Total

 242 

 267 

 251 

 212 

 214 

 228 



Island3

1 - most affluent

 * 

 - 

 - 

 * 

 - 

 - 





2

 23 

 21 

 25 

 21 

 18 

 15 





3

 8 

 * 

 8 

 8 

 6 

 12 





4

 - 

 - 

 * 

 - 

 * 

 - 





5 - most deprived

 - 

 * 

 - 

 * 

 * 

 - 





Total

 31 

 21 

 33 

 29 

 24 

 27 



  Source: SMR11 (Ref: S2W-4179).

  PProvisional

  * In order to protect patient confidentiality values between 1 and 4 have been suppressed.

  In order to protect patient confidentiality the home address postcode cannot be supplied.

  Notes:

  1. Excludes residents out with Scotland and not known and home births.

  2. Deprivation categories are based on data collected in the 1981 and 1991 census. A number of measures (over-crowding, male unemployment, low social class, no car) are combined to give a composite score for postcode sectors. There are five categories ranging from 1 (least deprived) to 5 (most deprived).

  3. Comprises Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles.

Non-Departmental Public Bodies

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when the decision not to pursue resource accounting and budgeting as a financial management tool for overseeing and monitoring the performance of non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) was taken; what the reasons were for the change in policy; what consultations took place prior to the decision being taken, and whether there was a recommendation from Her Majesty's Government to do so.

Mr Andy Kerr: Non-departmental public bodies both budget and account in full resource terms. The element of confusion is probably caused by the fact that, to meet the requirements of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000, the annual budget acts and subsequent revisions have to seek parliamentary authority for NDPB budgets in cash terms.

Population

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to undertake any research into economic migration between the EU accession states and Scotland and what assessment has been made of the impact of such migration within an EU of 25 states on emigration and immigration figures for Scotland.

Mr Jim Wallace: At the moment there are no plans to undertake such research. There is no data available on migration flows between the EU accession states and Scotland.

Post Office

Marilyn Livingstone (Kirkcaldy) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when funding will be available from Communities Scotland for sub-post offices within the Kirkcaldy parliamentary constituency for capital improvements to their businesses.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: The Executive began accepting applications for its £2 million fund to develop post offices in deprived urban areas from March 2003. This programme runs over the two-year period 2003-05 and sub-post offices located in the 20% most deprived urban areas, based on the 1998 and 2003 indices of deprivation, are eligible to apply.

Scottish Enterprise

Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost was of the Scottish Enterprise International Advisory Board event at Turnberry Hotel that commenced on 30 November 2003.

Mr Jim Wallace: This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise.

Scottish Executive Finance

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4486 by Mr Jim Wallace on 9 December 2003, what the level of additional public spending would have been from 1999 to 2001 had gross value added been £1.5 billion higher in 2001.

Mr Andy Kerr: The size of the assigned budget is largely determined by the Barnett formula and is not directly affected by changes in gross value added.

Single European Currency

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-3973 by Mr Jim Wallace on 25 November 2003, how the statement that "in general terms, the implications for Scotland of UK membership of the Euro are similar to the UK as a whole" is consistent with the statement that "the specific effects of monetary union would be anticipated to differ across regions", particularly if no analysis has been carried out, or is planned, to assess the impact of UK membership on specific sectors within Scotland.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Scottish Economic Report article reflects the fact that the UK and Scottish economies have similar structures, and that they share common macro-economic and fiscal regimes.

  The statement that "in general terms, the implications for Scotland of UK membership of the Euro are similar to the UK as a whole" refers to the fact that Scotland shares the same macro-economic and fiscal regimes as the UK. As a result, the fiscal and monetary policy levers available to deal with economic shocks will be similar.

  The statement that "the specific effects of monetary union would be anticipated to differ across regions" is based on the fact that all regions of the UK have variations in their industrial structures. As a result while the general impact would not be anticipated to vary greatly across the UK it is highly likely that there will be some distinction in the overall impact in Scotland relative to the other regions of the UK, as the impact of monetary union will vary across sectors.

Voluntary Sector

Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it is evaluating the work of volunteering centres and bureaux and what the timescale is for such evaluation work.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: The current evaluation arrangements for the Volunteer Centre Network comprises of two separate stages. The first is the creation of a workplan containing objectives and outcomes by each volunteer centre. The second requires each volunteer centre to report on these objectives and outcomes. Volunteer Development Scotland, acting as the agents commissioned to advise, assist, support and oversee the network, manages this process on behalf of the Scottish Executive. It then recommends to the Scottish Executive whether each volunteer centre should continue to receive funding for a programme of work outlined in its business plan.

  The overall effectiveness of the Volunteer Centre Network will be one of the issues considered as part a new five-year strategic framework for volunteer development that is being produced by the Scottish Executive. This work will be completed early in the new year.